The Ur-Sphinx by Kelcium

Format: Commander

Commander: The Ur-Sphinx

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 38

Deck overview

This Esper deck is a high-synergy tribal midrange list built around Sphinxes and led by The Ur-Sphinx. From the command zone, the commander's Eminence ability provides a permanent one-mana discount on all Sphinx spells, allowing the deck to accelerate high-cost threats onto the battlefield ahead of curve. The strategy focuses on establishing powerful card-advantage engines such as Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, Consecrated Sphinx, and Windreader Sphinx to flood the hand with resources. Once in control of the skies, the deck applies severe combat pressure using large flying creatures, accelerated by life-halving cards like Magister Sphinx or recursive bombs like Breach the Multiverse. A dedicated suite of low-cost counterspells and exile removal protects the board and keeps faster opponents in check, while alternate win conditions such as Approach of the Second Sun provide non-combat routes to victory.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Adarkar Wastes
  • 1 Alhammarret, High Arbiter
  • 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
  • 1 Anguished Unmaking
  • 1 Approach of the Second Sun
  • 1 Arcane Sanctum
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Azor, the Lawbringer
  • 1 Brainstorm
  • 1 Breach the Multiverse
  • 1 Caves of Koilos
  • 1 Chancellor of the Spires
  • 1 Cloudreader Sphinx
  • 1 Command Beacon
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Commander's Sphere
  • 1 Consecrated Sphinx
  • 1 Conspiracy Unraveler
  • 1 Contaminated Landscape
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Dazzling Sphinx
  • 1 Defiler of Dreams
  • 1 Denzilore Fatehold
  • 1 Dovin's Veto
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall
  • 1 Enigma Sphinx
  • 1 Ethersworn Sphinx
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Exchange of Words
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Extinction Event
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
  • 1 Glacial Fortress
  • 1 Inspired Sphinx
  • 4 Island
  • 1 Isolated Chapel
  • 1 Jelenn Sphinx
  • 1 Magister Sphinx
  • 1 Marauding Sphinx
  • 1 Master of Predicaments
  • 1 Medomai the Ageless
  • 1 Mirage Mirror
  • 1 Misleading Signpost
  • 1 Mortify
  • 1 Myriad Landscape
  • 1 Mystic Gate
  • 1 Nexus of Fate
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 4 Plains
  • 1 Prairie Stream
  • 1 Prognostic Sphinx
  • 1 Raffine, Scheming Seer
  • 1 Reconnaissance
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Sandstone Oracle
  • 1 Scholar of the Lost Trove
  • 1 Sensei's Divining Top
  • 1 Serum Sovereign
  • 1 Silent Clearing
  • 1 Smuggler's Share
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Sphinx Ambassador
  • 1 Sphinx Mindbreaker
  • 1 Sphinx of Clear Skies
  • 1 Sphinx of Foresight
  • 1 Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
  • 1 Sphinx of Uthuun
  • 1 Sphinx of the Final Word
  • 1 Sunken Hollow
  • 4 Swamp
  • 1 Swan Song
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Talisman of Dominance
  • 1 Talisman of Progress
  • 1 Tasha, the Witch Queen
  • 1 Temple of Deceit
  • 1 Temple of Enlightenment
  • 1 Temple of Silence
  • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
  • 1 The Ur-Sphinx
  • 1 Thought Vessel
  • 1 Uldaros Theorix
  • 1 Underground River
  • 1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
  • 1 Valgavoth, Terror Eater
  • 1 Vega, the Watcher
  • 1 Virtue of Persistence // Locthwain Scorn
  • 1 Windreader Sphinx
  • 1 Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign